Fluid meters such as gas meters must be serviced at periodic intervals. Such procedures normally require replacement of an in-service meter with a replacement meter or may involve procedures whereby a meter which is in service is serviced at its service location. In either event it is normally the practice to interrupt service and then to perform the service operations. Once such operations are completed service is reinstituted. Of course interruption of service in a gas installation shuts down all pilot lights and requires that such lights be reignited. In order to perform this complete operation, a serviceman must make a service call at a time when the owner of the residence being served is available so as to allow the serviceman access to the premises for reigniting extinguished pilot lights. This procedure is time consuming and sometimes many calls must be made by the serviceman before the occupant is available to allow access of the serviceman to the premises for the purpose of reigniting pilot lights.
In view of the above circumstance, many attempts have been made to enable a serviceman to perform all necessary service operations without interrupting customer service. These previous attempts have customarily taken the form of a bypass conduit with associated connectors or valves which are designed to allow the flow of gas around the meter connections during service operations. These prior practices are objectionable for a number of reasons. For example, they result in undesirable surges of gas and usually require substantial modification of the meter installation and of course are costly. Such practices are time consuming and in some instances facilitate fraudulent practices by making it possible for the customer to bypass the meter during normal operation thereof and thus facilitate appropriation of gas without proper compensation.
Examples of prior art practices may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,173,295 issued Mar. 16, 1965 for "Fluid Bypass Device" and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,187,570 issued June 8, 1965 for "By-pass For Fluid Meter".